Twitter

Diamonds – Mining, Lab-Grown and Conflict/Blood

De Beers Namibia diamond venture sells mine to local consortium (Reuters U.S. – September 12, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

WINDHOEK (Reuters) – Namdeb Holdings Limited, a joint venture between the Namibian Government and Anglo American’s diamond unit De Beers Group, said on Thursday that it has sold Elizabeth Bay Mine and its associated marine assets as a going concern to Lewcor, a 100% Namibian-owned consortium.

Namdeb, which unsuccessfully explored a variety of options to extend the life of its Elizabeth Bay Mine beyond 2019, ceased operations in September 2018 because it could no longer run the operation economically.

The company said it first put the mine up for sale in February last year, seeking to find an operator suited to operate the mine in a sustainable way, ensuring continuation of employment and economic activities in Namibia.

Read more

Osisko Gold buys Stornoway Diamond in deal with creditors – by Colin McClelland (Financial Post – September 9, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Montreal-based Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. is buying Stornoway Diamond Corp. in partnership with its creditors as the Longueuil, Que.-based gem miner files for bankruptcy protection.

The agreement stemming from a June letter of intent will see Osisko and other creditors assume all debts and liabilities of Stornoway while continuing to operate its Renard diamond mine in Quebec by supplying $20 million in working capital, according to a company filing to the provincial Superior Court.

“The continued downward pressure on the market price for rough diamonds, as well as a variety of other factors and circumstances, have contributed to the corporation’s inability to generate positive free cash flow in 2019, and to maintain an adequate level of working capital,” the company said in the filing.

Read more

Surat’s diamond industry loses glitter as slowdown deepens – by Mahesh Langa (The Hindu – September 6, 2019)

https://www.thehindu.com/

More than 15,000 people have been laid off in the past few weeks in the labour intensive sector

As the economic slowdown is deepening across sectors, India’s diamond hub in Surat is facing its worst crisis since 2008. The industry has seen more than 15,000 people being laid off in the past few weeks as the labour intensive sector is losing sheen owing to multiple factors, including the escalating trade war between China and the U.S., liquidity crisis at home and issues related to the Goods and Services Tax.

Since December 2018, almost one lakh people, mostly workers working in the sector that includes factories engaged in cutting and polishing rough diamonds, have lost their jobs, making it the worst crisis since the global slowdown in 2008.

It may be noted that India is the world’s largest cutting and polishing centre of rough diamonds, processing as many as 14 out of every 15 rough diamonds in the world. And more than 95 % of diamonds are cut and polished in several thousands factories in Surat and other towns of Gujarat.

Read more

Zimbabwe: The Tragedy of NGOs Singing for Their Supper – by Johnson Gonorenda (All Africa.com/The Herald – September 5, 2019)

https://allafrica.com/

The world over – the question of balance between equitable and sustainable resource exploitation has become central. The emergence in our time of matters such as greenhouse carbon emissions and competing theories on global warming, its causes, effects and extent and, more importantly, methods put forward for arresting the said pace of global warming have become key topics of global policy and a need for global solutions.

In this regard we have seen global incoherence on the way forward. The United States, in particular, has at one point alongside other global powers such as Germany, Britain, France and Canada proposed stringent policy proposals to arrest global warming.

However, in the age of President Trump, the US has been putting a massive handbrake to so-called environmental initiatives and this has frustrated her allies.

Read more

Tiffany beat profit expectations—and it conflicts with the idea that millennials aren’t buying diamonds – by Anna Hecht (CNBC.com – August 29, 2019)

https://www.cnbc.com/

Despite a drop in tourist spending in the U.S. and protests in Hong Kong slowing sales, American luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co still beat estimates on its quarterly profits, although the company’s revenue fell short, it announced in its earnings report on Wednesday.

Tiffany’s relatively successful performance contrasts with the widespread idea that young people aren’t buying as many diamonds as they used to. While Tiffany & Co doesn’t represent the entire jewelry industry, it still provides an interesting look into how the diamond industry is responding to changing tastes.

Currently, the jewelry industry as a whole is struggling. It shrunk 4% between 2017 and 2018, and last year alone, 852 U.S. jewelry retailers shut down, according to a report from the Jewelers Board of Trade (JBT).

Read more

NEW CAMPAIGN FOR NATURAL DIAMONDS AIMS TO FIGHT MISCONCEPTIONS – by Arabella Roden (Jeweller Magazine – August 23, 2019)

 

https://www.jewellermagazine.com/

The Diamond Producers Association (DPA) has released new promotional materials to combat misinformation about diamond mining. Called ‘Essential Diamond Truths’, the campaign from the US-based industry group involves a video that is shareable via social media, as well as an infographic series.

A DPA spokesperson told Rapaport News, “The goal is to convey some of the key facts and truths about natural diamonds in a compelling, cinematic way that will engage viewers.

Read more

Tiffany & Co. launches men’s line, hoping diamonds are a dude’s best friend – by Rachel Siegel (Washington Post – August 15, 2019)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Tiffany & Co. hasn’t had any trouble getting men to come shop for the ladies in their lives. Now the jeweler behind those iconic blue boxes wants them to stay and peruse … for themselves.

Tiffany is rolling out its first comprehensive jewelry line for men, the company announced Thursday, in a bid to attract younger shoppers and reverse declining sales. Come October, the collection will include nearly 100 designs, some of which will fetch prices as high as $15,000. Tiffany also plans to add home furnishings and accessories, such as ice tongs and beer mugs, with male customers in mind.

But retail experts say it could be a tough sell. The glitz and glamour of Tiffany has long been tied to feminine jewelry (along with Audrey Hepburn’s soft smile and bejeweled neck).

Read more

The World Has a Diamond Glut. Why Is That a Problem? – by Elizabeth Paton (New York Times – August 16, 2019)

https://www.nytimes.com/

LONDON — Is it ever possible to have too many diamonds? For many in the business of producing and trading these gems in recent years, the answer is yes.

The top diamond miners in the world, including the two largest, Alrosa and De Beers, have an inventory problem. So do many of the cutters and polishers who buy the rough stones and sell them to retailers. At every stage of the supply chain there are too many of these precious gemstones, whose marketing has long depended on their rarity.

A glut in many other industries would ordinarily lead to deep price cuts. But consumers are buying stones that have passed through many layers of middlemen: traders, polishers and cutters, who have absorbed much of the raw stones’ price volatility, as well as brands and jewelry houses that create rings, bracelets and necklaces. This has kept retail prices relatively constant, fueled by robust demand from shoppers all over the world.

Read more

Sierra Leone community’s suit against diamond miner shows activist trend – by Cooper Inveen (Reuters U.S. – August 6, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

FREETOWN, August 6 (Reuters) – At the foot of a slag heap some 40 meters high, Adi Kalie Bangura showed the black welts that dot his arms and legs that he says are the result of drinking and bathing in water contaminated by Sierra Leone’s largest diamond mine.

The water “makes us get headaches and feel sick in our stomachs,” said Bangura, a traditional healer and community elder in Koidu, the largest city in the West African country’s diamond-rich Kono district. The aluminium roof of the mud brick house he shares with a dozen family members is pockmarked by holes he says are the result of rocks loosened by years of blasting by the mine.

Bangura’s claims are part of those made by a group of Koidu residents in a lawsuit against diamond mining firm Octea Limited and related companies, highlighting how communities in developing countries are becoming increasingly emboldened to use courts to pursue grievances against mining firms.

Read more

De Beers Diamond Sales Sink to Three-Year Low as Buyers Hold Off  – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg/Yahoo Finance – July 30, 2019)

https://finance.yahoo.com/

(Bloomberg) — The crisis squeezing the diamond industry is gaining momentum. De Beers reported another sharp drop in its latest sales to the lowest since 2015, after the world’s biggest producer allowed its struggling customers to defer more purchases to later this year.

The mostly family-run businesses that cut, polish and trade the world’s diamonds are battling to make a profit as demand slumps because of a surplus of polished stones and as demand for high-end jewelry stagnates. It has also become harder for these companies to access financing.

De Beers sells gems at 10 sales a year in Botswana to a select group of customers, who are expected to accept the price and quantities they’re offered. Membership of the group was once a lucrative coup for anyone in the industry, but some buyers are now struggling to make money as De Beers keeps prices high, even if it means selling fewer stones.

Read more

The elite club that rules the diamond world is starting to crack (Singapore Straits Times – July 29, 2019)

https://www.straitstimes.com/

It’s one of the world’s most exclusive clubs, known over the years as the Syndicate, the Central Selling Organisation and the Diamond Trading Company.

For more than a century, De Beers has sold most of its rough diamonds to a select number of customers, a list that reads like a who’s who of the opaque gem-trading world. Tiffany & Co, Graff Diamonds and Signet Jewelers Ltd all own subsidiaries in this group, guaranteeing a steady supply of gems with the pedigree of being vetted by De Beers.

In the diamond trading world, becoming one of De Beers’s elite buyers is viewed as essential to achieving success and making money. Now, it’s no longer so easy.

Read more

Made-in-China diamonds poised to shape global market (Singapore Straits Times – February 7, 2019)

https://www.straitstimes.com/

ZHENGZHOU/BRUSSELS (XINHUA) – A diamond is forever but its chemical composition is just carbon, the fourth most abundant element in the universe.

Before being cut and polished to what may cost over US$2,000 (S$2,710) per carat – one-fifth of a gram, or the weight of two grains of rice, diamonds have traditionally been mined from earth, where they were forged in extreme pressure and heat over millennia.

But companies in China and elsewhere have mastered the technologies to manufacture them en masse in a matter of weeks or days, with the products practically indistinguishable from those mined from earth.

Read more

Anglo Plans $1 Billion Buyback After Bumper Iron Ore Profit – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – July 25, 2019)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Anglo American Plc plans to buy back up to $1 billion of shares after the diversified miner reaped bumper profits from its iron ore business, more than offsetting declines in diamond and copper.

Anglo is the first to report earnings among the handful of giant miners that produce iron ore and investors have been preparing for big windfalls. The steelmaking ingredient surged to the highest in more than five years after a deadly Brazilian dam collapse and operational setbacks in Australian caused a supply shock.

The buyback represents a shift for Anglo, which has been focused on repairing its bruised balance sheet and investing in growth while the world’s biggest producers handed massive amounts of money back to shareholders in recent years. The company’s net debt stands at $3.4 billion.

Read more

Canada announces $2M for research into carbon neutral mining at Gahcho Kue mine (CBC News North – July 23, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Project accelerates natural process that uses mine waste to trap greenhouse gases

The Canadian government is investing millions in a research project that has the potential to make some mining operations carbon neutral.

Greg Dipple, a professor of geology at the University of British Columbia, has been working with three other universities and three mining companies, among other groups, to use tailings from mining operations to strip carbon dioxide from the air and convert it to a stable mineral form, trapped in cement-like rock.

“It’s essentially the acceleration of a natural process called chemical weathering,” said Dipple. “The difference here is … we can do it in a timescale of minutes to hours to days to weeks rather than hundreds or millions of years.”

Read more

The world’s biggest diamond mine is closing, which means gem prices are likely heading higher – by David Stringer and Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News/Finance – July 12, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Argyle is best known as the source of about 90 per cent of the world’s prized pink diamonds

The world’s biggest diamond mine ⁠— famed more for the fistful of coveted pink and red gems it yields each year than being a major producer of lower-quality stones — is being shuttered by Rio Tinto Group after almost four decades. Rivals from Russia to Canada hope that can help turn around the beleaguered industry.

Rio’s Argyle mine in remote Western Australia has transformed the sector since 1983 when the operation began supplying gems for both ends of the market. RBC Capital Markets and Panmure Gordon are among brokers, banks and competitors forecasting the closure could kick-start prices that have waned since 2011, according to PolishedPrices.com, an industry data provider.

Production at Argyle, about 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) northeast of the state capital Perth, is scheduled to end before the end of next year after finally exhausting its supply of economically viable stones, said Arnaud Soirat, Rio’s head of copper and diamonds.

Read more